The November 10, 2011, edition of the Financial Times contains an article by Alan Rappeport entitled “McDonald’s Looks to Buy More Property.”
Instructions
Read the article and answer the following questions.
(a) Why is McDonald’s shifting away from leasing its properties toward purchasing them?
(b) What percentage of the land that its stores sit on does McDonald’s own? What percentage of its 30,000 restaurant buildings does it own?
(c) William Ackerman was a large McDonald’s shareholder. Explain the proposal he had for the company.
(d) What impact would William Ackerman’s proposal probably have had on the return on common stockholders’ equity?
(e) Why did McDonald’s probably choose to decline the Ackerman proposal?